Gummed tape serving and moistening mechanism



Oct. 21, 1952 R. A. HAVEMANN ETAL 2,614,523

GUMMED TAPE SERVING AND MOISTENING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 22, 1949 1N VENTORS Reamer l. HAVEMANN 4 .Do/wua 52 BRUCE BY C'unm. Es .3. Mvc IP45ATTORN EYS.

Patented Oct. 21, 1952 GUMMED TAPE SERVING AND MOIS' IENING v MECHANISMRobert A. Havemann and Donald S. Bruce, Troy, Ohio, and Charles B.MacRae, New York, N. Y., assignors to The Gummed Products Company, Troy,Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application December 22, 1949, Serial No.134,454

8 Claims. (01. 118-39) 1 Our invention relates to tape serving andmoistening mechanism adapted to feed .a predetermined supply oftape-which has a tear string extending medially lengthwise of the tape,to

cut off the tape, and to moisten the tape to prepare it for applicationin container sealing.

In such mechanism it is the object of our invention to provideimprovements wherein, after a predetermined supply is fed forwardly,means are providedv to function in conjunction with the mechanism whichcuts off the tape from the supply whereby a slit is cut in the cut edgeor edges of the supply, which when the tape is fed forwardly and cutoil, will provide a tear string'tab ortabs which will facilitate tearingout the string to release the seal of the tape from the container.

Another object is to provide -a guard. which inhibits moistening by thetape moistening brush along a band of the tape through the center ofwhich the tear string extends. The purpose of this improvement is toprevent sealing that part of the tape, through which the tear stringextends, to the container which would make release of the tear stringand its bisecting of the tape a difiicult operation.

The above objects and other objects to which reference will be made inthe ensuing description, we accomplish by that certain combination andarrangement of parts which we have illustrated in combination with thegummed tape serving machineas substantially shown and described in theUnited States Patent No. 1,742,603 of Theodore H. Krueger dated January7, 1930 on Tape- Serving Machine.

It should be understood that the addition of the working parts to such amachine as that to which reference has been made may also be added toother types of gummed. tape serving machines having a cut oil knife andmoistening brush. In the drawings: Y

Figure lis a side elevation with the internal operating parts indicatedin dotted lines, the

machine being in normal inoperative position.

Figure 2 is atop plan view of the machine parts being broken. away toreveal the mechanism Eigure.-.5.isa perspective view of the. simplest Iform; tab slitting device.

Figured is a perspective view of the central band moistening inhibitingdevice.

Figure 7 is a plan view of a piece of gummed tape having a .tear stringextending medially lengthwise of the tape showing one type of tearstring pull tab.

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic sectional .view showing a modified type oftape slitter which slits both the lead edge of tape to be advanced butalso the rear edge of a piece of tape as a predetermined length is cutolf.

Mounted upon suitable legs l we have shown the upright rigid side panels2 between which the various rollers and rods forming part of the tapedispensing mechanism are journaled or supported.

The supply roll 3 of tape having a. tear string 4 extending medially ofthe tape is mounted on the rollers 5 and 6. v Other mechanicalequivalents may be provided to support the roll or supply of tape. Thetape is fed forwardly by frictional contact with a lower feed roll 7 andupper feed roll 8.

The feed roll actuating lever 9 is journaled as indicated at 10 on ashaft rotatively mounted between the side panels 2. The lever has around hole II on its short arm which engages a pin 12 onthe ratchetWheel 13. An elongated arm 28a is fixed to the ratchet wheel l3 andpositionedso that its flanged end 28a will be contacted by'the actuatinglever 9- and moved therewith. The

ratchet wheel I3 is thus driven in a clockwise direction by theactuating lever 9 which contacts The upper feed roll 8 is mounted inslots-2i) which permit the feed roll 8 to rotate by fric tional contactwith the lower feed roller 1 either with tape between the rollers orwith the feed rollers merely engaging frictionally. The throw of thelever. 9 is controlled by an adjustable stop mechanism generallyindicatedat 2.

The lever 9 has an actuating handle 2| which the operator-0f the machineuses to advance a predetermined length of tape to the. brush moisteningmechanism. Adjusting the mechanism 22 induces a greater or lesser throwof the feed roller 1.

A spring 24 urges the lever 9 in a counterclockwise direction. As thetape is fed forwardly from between the upper and lower feed rollers itpasses between upper and lower guide plates 25, 26. The upper guideplate 25 has a cutting edge 21 which, as will be described, functionswith the cut off knife to shear off the tape crosswise of its lengthafter a predetermined length of the tape has been fed forwardly.

The mechanism for cutting off a predetermined length of tape and withwhich one of the important elements of our combination functionscomprises a dog 29 pivoted to the crank arm. 30 which in turn is fixedto the long crank arm 32 pivoted on journal 33. At the other end of thecrank arm 32 the link 34 connects the crank arm 32 to the cut-off knife33 pivoted at 31 (Figure 3). A spring 35 normally biases the lever arm32 to the position illustrated in Figure l. A roller 3| is mounted onthe actuating lever 9 and with each clockwise movement of the lever 9,the roller 3| moves from its position beneath the dog 2 9, the

dog 29 being pushed upwardly to permit passage of the roller. When theactuating lever 9 reaches the endof its clockwise movement it isreleased, whereupon it returns to its starting position under theinfluence of the spring 24. This .movement causes the roller 3! tostrike the dog 29 thereby causing a counter-clockwise movement of thelong lever arm 32 through the intermediary of the lever arm 30 andagainst tension of the spring 35f When the crank arm 32 is rocked inthis manner, the end of the cut-off knife is elevated with a quickshearing stroke which severs'the tape.

The parts and their operating movements thus far described form no partof our invention.

However, it is to the shearing knife 36 that wehave added the partswhich make snipping a tear string pull tab on the leading end of theuncut tape supply possible. A cutting die, as shown in Figure andconsisting of the knife edged portions 38 is mounted on a base 39 whichis secured with screws 40 to the knife 36 (as illustrated in Figures 3and 4) The upper guide plate 25 has a pair of slotsAI, as shown inFigure 2, which permit the portions 38 to pass through the tape makinglengthwise slits 42 in the leading edge of the tape supply on both sidesof the line where the tear string 43 is secured to the adhesive surfaceof the tape.

The slits 42 may be parallel with the length of the tape or they may berounded to provide a. larger tab.

It will be observed that the moistening brushes 44, as shownin Figure 6,have a guard 45 which covers over the bristles so that no moisture willbe applied to a band of the tape extending on both sides of the tearstring. This is to prevent the tear string and the tear tab beingadhesively secured to the container.

One particular utility of the tape with the tear string extending downthe middle of the tape is that the tape as withdrawn from the gummedtape serving machine may be secured across the lateral joint betweenclosing flaps on the upper sideof a container. To open the container allthat is necessary is to pull'upon the tear string and the bisected tapewill permit the container flaps to be opened.

..: Our invention is described in terms. of its simplest form. It may beutilized with any type,

of-tape dispenser-which has a cut off-knife; All

that is required for such a machine is a new knife with the slittingknives 38 formed as a die secured to the knife in the appropriateposition. Then slits must be provided in the upper tape guide plate anda guard in alignment with the center of the moistening brush' to inhibitmoistening of the tape adjacent its median line.

From its process aspects our invention contemplates any tape dispensingapparatus in which as a strip of tape is advanced, a tear tab is snippedin the leading edge of the supply to be next served or dispensed.

As is diagrammatically shown in Figure 8,

instead of slitting only the lead edge of a strip of tape about to beadvanced, it is within the scope of our invention to provide two cuttingdies attached to the cut-off knife to slit the rear or trailing edge ofa strip coincident with its being cut off. Thus in Figure 8 the knife isindicated at 36 having the slitting die 38, but another slitting die3811 is mounted on the front face of the cut-off knife. In this case theplate 25 extends at theside edges around the knife providing anextension 2511 in front. This extension is provided with slits 41a tocooperate with the slitting die 38a. The mounting of the die 38a is suchthat the slit is formed in the rear or trailing edge of the strip oftape which is to be cut off before the cutting off stroke of the cut-offknife is completed. This prevents the slitting tending to tear the edgesof the rear end of a dispensed piece of tape. The function of the guardfor the brush will be the same with both types of slitting. As indicatedin Figure 7 in. dotted lines at 42a with the double slitting operation,both ends of the tape will have tear string withdrawal tabs.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination in a gummed tape serving machine provided with a tapefeeding device for tape which has a tear string extending medially andlengthwise of the tape, 'a supply device for such tape, means forfeeding forwardly a limited supply of such tape, in a step-by-stepoperation, a retaining plate under which said tape is fed having asevering edge extending crosswise of the direction of feed of the tape,a cut-ofi knife pro vided with means, synchronized with the tape feedingdevice, for actuating said knife and adapted to move into suchrelationship with the severing edge of the retaining plate as to severthe tape crosswise of its length at the end of each feeding operationand cooperating means on said knife and severing edge for slitting anedge of the tape at the end of a step-by-step feeding operation to forma tear string pull tab.

2. In combination in a gummed tape serving machine provided with a tapefeeding device for tape which has a tear string extending medially andlengthwise of the tape, a supply device for such tape, means for feedingforwardly a limited supply of such tape, in a step-by-step operation, aretaining plate under which said tape is fed having 'a severing edgeextending crosswise of the direction of feed of the tape, a cut-offknife provided with means, synchronized with the tape feeding device,for actuating said knife and adapted to move into "such relationshipwith the severing edge of the retainin -plate as to sever the tapecrosswise of its length atthe end of each feeding operation, a pair ofspaced apart slitting knives secured to said cut-off knife in angularrelation thereto for slitting the leading edge of the unsevered supplyof. such tape at the end" of a step-by-step feeding operation to form atear string pull tab, said retaining plate having spaced apart slitstherein for the passage of said last mentioned pair of knives.

3. In combination in a gummed tape serving machine provided with a tapefeeding device for tape which has a tear string extending medially andlengthwise of the tape, a supply device for such tape, means for feedingforwardly a limited supply of such tape, in astep-by-step operation,aretaining plate under which said tape is fed having a severing edgeextending crosswise of the direction of feed of the tape, a cut-offknife provided with means, synchronized with the tape therein, saidretaining plate having spaced pairs of slits therein for the passage ofsaid spaced pairs of slitting knives.

4. In combination in a gummed tape serving machine provided with a tapefeeding device for tape which has a tear string extending .medially andlengthwise of the tape, a supply of such tape, means for feedingforwarding a limited supply of such tape, in a step-by-step operation, aretaining plate under which said tape is fed having a severing edgeextending crosswise of the direction Of feed of the tape, a cut-offknife provided with means, synchronized with the tape feeding device,for actuating said knife and adapted to move into such relationship withthe severing which the tear string extends.

5. The structure claimed in claim 4 wherein said means for inhibitingmoistening of the tape along a band through which th tear stringextendscomprises a guard extending transversely across said brush and servingto maintain the bristles of the brush lying beneath said guard out ofcontact with the tape.

6. In combination'with the cut-off knife in a gummed tape servingmachine, a'clltting die secured to said cut-01f knife for snipping apair of slits in the leading edge of a strip of tape to b subsequentlyserved, said cutting die comprising a pair of spaced apart cutting edgesangularly related to the cutting edge of said cut-01f knife.

7. In combination with the cut-01f knife in a gummed' tape servingmachine, a cutting die secured to said cut-off knife forsnipping a pairof slits in the trailing edge of a strip of tapeas it is served, saidcutting die comprising a pair of spaced apart cutting edges angularlyrelated to the cutting edge of said cut-off knife, said die being sopositioned that said spaced apart cutting edges will slit the strip oftape prior to the time the tape is severed by said cut-off knife.

8. In combination with the cut-off knife in a gummed tape servingmachine, a cutting die associated with said cut-off knife for cuttingslits lengthwise of the tape coincident with a crosswise cuttingoperation of the cut-oil knife, said cuttin die comprising a spaced pairof cutting knives secured to one side of said cut-off knife for jointmovement therewith.

ROBERT A. I-IAVEMANN. DONALD S. BRUCE. CHARLES B. MAoRAE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,894,317 Link Jan. 17, 19331,932,875 Addison et al Oct. 31, 1933 1,967,579 Krueger July- 24, 19342,006,417 Topping July.2, 1935 2,053,786 Straubel Sept. 8, 19362,079,328 McBean May 4, 1937 2,152,012 Albion Mar. 28, 1939 2,285,507Gilliam June 9, 1942 2,340,127 Karlson Jan. 25, 1944 2,360,845 BronanderOct. 24, 1944 2,365,477 Krueger Dec. 19, 1944 2,370,079 Schmidt Feb. 20,1945 2,379,033 Olsson June 26, 1945 2,408,363 Beckman Oct. 1, 1946FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country .Date

Great Britain Sept. 21, 1937

